Bravo, Salmo! Excellent discourse, intellectual observations. Information that everyone ought to read again, just to insure that we have a balance of opinion before we spout off and bash the Indians again.

KSR-
I sat in BC this summer, between fishing & crabbing trips, and read a very good book called "Indian Fishing" (Early Methods on the Northwest Coast)" by Hilary Stewart. It took me 4 days to read this 180 page book, and I read "Gone With The Wind" ( 1000+ pages ) in three days. There is THAT much information in it!
First of all, taking your statement literally in that they should all go back to using ancient methods: we don't have enough sustainable cedar left for them to do so, even if they wanted to. (Hmmmm....now who logged all that cedar? The Indians?)
And on that same note, if they are to go back to fishing in ancient ways, then so should we. Get rid of your graphite rod and anodized reel and dump those laser-sharp hooks in the trash, honey. And forget that monofilament cuz we're going back to guts and string. How many steelhead do you think us White-boyz are going to catch on this? Hmmmm....it certainly ought to be beneficial for escapement, don't you think?

And lest you think that I'm on "their" side, I'll correct you in that at times I've fished over 120 days per year. I have salmon boats, drift boats and catarafts and enough gear downstairs to open a tackle store. I live in an area that is heavily netted. So....go fish another river. If they're netting the Elwah, go to the Lyre. The Quillyute? Find those small steams that aren't netted. Live with it and adapt.

Quitcher*****in' and git fishin'
diana